Free agent wishlist: No. 3

I’m in the minority, I know, when saying the Bengals still don’t have a No. 2 receiver. Adding Kenny Britt would be one way to silence me.

With free agency set to begin March 11, BengalsGab’s part-time blogger (he knows not to quit his day job) Florida Bengal is counting down his top 10 targets the Bengals could realistically acquire and should look at once free agency officially opens up.

It’s a match made in heaven.

A very talented but troubled player on the open market who will come at a steeply reduced price because of off the field incidents. How can Mike Brown resist?

There are a couple catches here, however. The numbers have been down the last couple seasons as the Titans as a whole have been in a downward spiral. But Britt’s numbers can be extra concerning since his yards per catch are down more than five since he tore his ACL in 2011. Also, there’s the matter of Britt’s near-double-digit run-ins with the law and two meetings (so far) with Commissioner Roger Goodell.

All of that in mind, I believe Britt is well worth what he’ll fetch on the open market — something close to the veteran minimum — which is nothing compared to the $28 million deal Laveranues Coles got for one year of not much.

Put Britt in a winning situation like the Bengals have (I can’t tell you how good it feels to be able to seriously write that), with a strong locker room and a younger, better receiver wearing his No. 18 and I think you’ll see some of the fire return to Britt and the big plays won’t be far behind.

Lining up Britt across from Green would, in my opinion, solidify the Bengals passing attack. Yes, Britt can’t make the line protect Andy Dalton better or generate more consistency from our tight ends, but he can pose a threat that has to be noticed, preventing teams from rolling all of their coverage toward A.J. Green.

This is the exact kind of free agent the Bengals tend to gravitate towards and I would be as on-board with this addition as any free agent signing of the Marvin Lewis era.

Even if it doesn’t work out, the team would be out next-to-nothing, unlike they were in 2009. Britt coming and quickly going wouldn’t even impact the team as much as Michael Westbrook’s one-year stint in Dick LeBeau’s last season in charge, 2002.

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